On the day of Frey (an ancient pagan god of fertility), also known as Friday, we had our regular lectures: language in the morning and literature in the afternoon. An extra bonus was thrown at us at the end of the day, when we were all very tired and hoping to get home. We had man called Heini Í Skorini speak about religion and politics on the Faroe Islands. I expected a dull and boring lecture, as, for me, the title gave such associations. Surprisingly, the lecture was really interesting!
This country is part of Scandinavia, a part of the Nordic heritage (both in language and genetics), but the attitudes and the belief systems are so traditional, christian and conventional, that parallels between the Faroe Islands and southern States in the U.S. can easily be drawn.
Info gathered from my notes (please correct me if I'm wrong;) :
- there are 160 churches in total on the Faroe Islands
- 83% are a part of the national (lutheran) church (Fólkakirkjan)
- 16% are a part of some other religious movement (Jehova's, Adventists, Baha'i, Catholic)
- muslim and other "foreign" religions are very, very rare
In politics the traditional and conventional (= very strong) Christian religion plays a significant role. The Faroese parliament is a place for old men, where heterosexuality is a norm. Hence, homosexuality is taboo here. According to Heini, when (re-)forming the Faroese constitutional law and discussing the word forms in the Human Rights Declaration (second paragraph about discrimination) 2005 and 2007, the words for "discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation" were omitted. The debate was fierce, and as I understood it, the Faroese constitutional law still lacks the specific formulations that declare discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation as illegal.
Other strongly debated subjects here are alcohol politics, abortion and pornography. These sensitive matters demolish the so-called "two dimensional party system". The parties are divided according to a) whether or not they support the idea of independence from Denmark and b) whether they are left or right wing parties.
Heini offered geographical isolation and the harsh nature (forcing the islanders to focus on survival (nowadays a more historical remain), as possible explanations to why the islanders are so rigid in their beliefs.
This lecture really woke us up to see the differences and the similarities in the Faroe Islands and our home countries and we were eager to discuss and ask questions of Heini. An interesting lecture, I'd say!
After school we did all sorts of things that the traditional Faroese society would frown upon:
- we went to the local ALKO = the monopolized store for alcohol
- we were modern and ate pizza (no lamb meat or fish included)
- we saw a decadent Danish movie called "Barbara". I recommend the film to anyone who's into Jane Austen movies, although, "Barbara" is not so romantic, but the costumes and nature were nice:) End of school week one!
No comments:
Post a Comment